Recognising the Enemy
by scarlett-811
Summary: He was a rebel. She was too afraid. She hated how he hid. He hated how she made him feel. But somehow, they were good together. Somehow, a bet, a romance and a fight brought two people who hated love together. This is the story of Sirius and Adrienne. Of James and Lily. Of the lives, loves and laughter of the graduating class of '78
1. Prologue - The Bet

Once again Hogwarts was disturbed by the very familiar shouting of two of its students. Adrienne King and Sirius Black were obviously trying to ensure that they filled their yearly quota of arguments before the year ended.

"You're nothing but a self- important womanizing asshole!" screamed Adrienne at Sirius.

"Oh really? Well at least I'm not an unpopular, heartless prude. Oh, and don't forget your most striking quality, your repulsive face! Tell me, _Adrie_, how many boyfriends have you had?" Sirius sneered back.

Adrienne flushed but looked defiantly at him and replied, "None, but how many of your conquests have lasted more than two weeks and how many have just been a quickie between lessons? Face it Sirius, no-one loves you enough to stay with you, not even your own mother_._"

Looking at the two students argue, it was not hard to see why they were adversaries. Adrienne was an ordinary looking girl whose features were hidden behind frizzy hair, glasses and braces. Her average-sized figure was concealed beneath the voluminous layers of her oversized uniform and robes, which looked like they had seen better days. Sirius, in contrast, was Hogwarts' resident playboy. His aristocratic features were currently twisted into an expression of hatred as he stared at Adrienne, but he was still undoubtedly very attractive.

Surprisingly, Sirius laughed, "Get real, King! I have a much better chance of being in a relationship than you do of making even one guy fall for you."

"I'm sure you could find some slag to sleep with for a few months, but most people wouldn't call that a relationship. I could make the whole of fucking Hogwarts fall for me before you got in a real relationship!"

"Fine!" Sirius yelled "Let's bet on it! I bet that I could find someone that is smart, hot and have a long term relationship before you can make all the boys in Hogwarts fall for you."

Adrie instantly agreed, "Yeah right Black, we both know I'm going to win. You better be ready to come crawling back to me when you can't find a single girl willing to put up with you for more than a week."

Sirius smirked at her, "You'll be crawling back when you realise that no normal guy wants to touch a chick whose hair looks like it's about to start attacking."

"You wait Black; by the time school starts next year I'll be ready to kick your ass!" Adrie smirked right back at him as she walked away, repressing the niggling feeling that she may have bitten off more than she could chew.

**Okay, so here is the new prologue of this story. It is pretty similar to the old one (except for small grammatical corrections) but I have written pretty much the whole of the next chapter so if I get a good response to this I'll post it. **


	2. Chapter 1 - Fights, Friends and Finality

**First real chapter! This is completely new material so hopefully you like it. It's also heaps longer than my old chapters (think twice as long) so please read and review :)**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine**

My Life Is Over

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Adrie was sitting on her bed in the Gryffindor girls dormitory and swearing to herself. What the _fuck _had possessed her to make that stupid bet with Black. Oh, right, Black. There was something about Sirius Black that had the ability to make her want to alternately kill or castrate him. Something about his attitude towards her brought out the worst in her and always made her make stupid, _stupid _decisions like this. How the fuck was she supposed to get all the guys in Hogwarts to want her? Adrie had no illusions about how she was perceived by much of the Hogwarts population. She didn't have a natural propensity to charm people, and this, combined with Sirius' constant comments about her looks and personality meant that, while she was well known, she wasn't particularly well liked. That's not to say she didn't have friends, she did, but she knew that a lot of people thought of her as an ugly shrew.

The dormitory door suddenly burst open and Lily Evans came flying in "Adrienne King" she said "Tell me that the rumours aren't true and that you didn't make a bet with Sirius Black? That has to be the worst idea in the history of ideas. You can't actually expect to have every guy in Hogwarts wanting you before he gets a girlfriend? He's got girls lining up to date him!"

Adrie just looked at her mutely, unable to speak. Hearing Lily verbalise her doubts had driven home just how incredibly mad this idea was. How the fuck was she, a girl who cared more about Quidditch than about the state of her split ends, how was she ever going to be the type of girls that guys wanted? But she couldn't give in to Black, couldn't let him know that he was better than her. Adrie hadn't ever given in to Sirius Black and she didn't intend to start now. She felt her internal confusion begin to be replaced by a conviction that she _had _to do this, she had to teach the ignorant prat a lesson. No matter what it took, she would wipe the smirk off his face.

Lily was still standing in the doorway, waiting for her answer and she saw the confusion on Adrie's face slowly morph into sheer determination. "Come on honey, you can just tell him the bet is off" she said, as she put her arms around Adrie.

"No I can't. If people already know about it and I call it off, that means he's won. I can't let that slimy prat win, no matter what it takes. He's selfish, womanizing, shallow and utterly insufferable and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let him win. Lils, I have to find a way to win this fucking bet." Adrienne had never shared exactly why she hated Black so much but Lily knew that she was not going to back down on it.

"Okay, we'll come up with something. You do know it's not going to be easy though? You can't just walk into school next year and act the same."

"Yes, I know. I'm going to have to go _shopping" _Lily laughed at the expression of revulsion on Adrie's face.

"You didn't always hate being a girl" she said thoughtfully "it was only when we came back for Third Year that you decided that acting girly sucked and you were going to do everything short of growing balls to turn into a boy."

Adrie had turned away so Lily missed the momentary tightening of her features that accompanied this comment. "I decided that guys had more fun" she replied lightly "Now, we have the whole summer to turn be back into femaledom, but we only have tonight to pack." Lily laughed and nodded and the two girls started the arduous task of locating their clothes in the messy dormitory.

Masochism and Idiocy

Sirius knew he was a masochistic idiot. He knew it, but the whole idea of being masochistic was that you know something is bad for you but you keep going back. In his case, he was masochistic about Adrienne King. She was a spoilt, stuck-up, prissy bitch, but he still couldn't stop provoking her. It was like some sort of drug, he hated her; he knew she was bad for him, but he was addicted to her. Every encounter with her was fraught with insults; she had a tongue like a viper and she knew how to draw his blood better than anyone else. He never came away from an argument with her with all his armour intact; she invariably found his weak spots and goaded him into saying something he regretted. This time, though, he knew that he was really an idiot. His one release from his life was sex. No matter what he had to deal with, if he could just go and fuck someone, he achieved a few moments of oblivion and an outlet for his emotions. It was even better when it was a random hook-up because then he didn't have to deal with the bullshit that inevitably came with relationships. Why had he suggested that he would be in a long-term relationship? He was an idiot and he was too masochistic to even think of backing out of the fucking bet.

As Sirius was contemplating his general stupidity, the door to his dormitory crashed open and the three remaining Marauders came in.

"You are an idiot"

"Don't tell me, Prong" he groaned, not moving from his place on the bed "Why the fuck did I decide to make a bet with King, of all people? That bird is fucking crazy!"

"She is not crazy" Remus interjected, "You just bring out the worst in each other."

"Yeah, well, she was acting pretty crazy back there."

"So were you, Padfoot, from all accounts."

Sirius sat up "It doesn't matter now anyway, I have to think of a way to win this fucking bet without losing my reputation as Hogwarts' playboy." His tone was light and vaguely mocking and the other marauders took it as a warning not to pry too deeply into his feelings over the matter.

"Pads, mate, I love Adrie and all, but you are going to fucking destroy her in this bet" James replied.

"Hell yeah I am! Maybe when I'm in a relationship I can give you tips on how to get Evans to fuck you."

That comment was met with a shoe thrown at Sirius' head, which he instantly put in his open trunk. And with that, the Marauders turned and started packing, continuing to joke and banter as they did so.

Lily vs. James

"I can't believe this is the second last time we'll be doing this." Lily's nostalgic voice was lost on the other occupants of the carriage, Adrie and two of their other roommates and good friends. Sasha Donovan and Marlene Atwood were both great friends with Lily and Adrie and together they made up a group which was known throughout Hogwarts. They were all diverse; Lily being the rule-abiding, stereotypical "good-girl"; Adrie, the tomboyish Quidditch player with a hair-trigger temper; Marlene, the slightly rebellious one with a stubborn streak and Sasha, who had a heart of gold combined with a sarcastic tongue. Somehow, despite their differences, they got along as a group and had a friendship that spanned the past 6 years.

"Doing what?" Adrie replied lazily, too engrossed in her Quidditch magazine to be truly interested.

"Catching the Hogwarts Express home for the summer. We only have one more year left at school and then we're out on our own."

Adrie sat up, "You're right Lils. I think we need to make sure that our last year here is our best yet. The words had barely come out of her mouth when the train ride was interrupted by the door opening. James Potter stood at the door, looking uncharacteristically nervous and subdued.

"Hey James" Adrie said, greeting her Quidditch captain and friend with a smile. Sasha and Marlene looked up and waved as well but Lily stared at her hands, knowing that if she engaged with Potter she'd end up yelling at him.

"Hey Adrie, Donovan, Atwood, I was just wondering if I could have a word with Evans here?"

Lily looked up unwillingly, "What do you want, Potter?" she snapped "You can say it in front of my friends I'm sure."

"No, I'd prefer to talk to you in private." From the stubborn expression etched on his face Lily knew that he wasn't about to give in.

"Fine" she said unwillingly.

As Adrie watched them leave the compartment she mused on their strange relationship. For as long as she could remember, James had had a "thing" for Lily. He always wanted her attention, whether that was through pranking her to make her notice him or constantly asking her to Hogsmeade, James simply could not leave Lily alone. His arrogance made Lily initially dislike him, and this turned to hate as she saw what he did, not only to her, but to her ex-best friend, Snape. Thus, James and Lily had a tempestuous relationship that consisted mainly of arguments, fights and duels in public and often private discussions with Adrie about how very _annoying _the other could be.

Adrie had known James for years, they lived in the same area and their parents were friends. When she had befriended Lily at the Welcoming Feast in First Year, James had been ecstatic that he had a way in with Lily and Adrie had been forced to tell him that she refused to pick sides between them. That decision had meant that she could stay friends with both of them, but it also meant that she heard both side of their story. She knew that James truly did care about Lily, even if he didn't always pick the best way to show it, and she knew that Lily was not always as uncaring about James as she seemed. Somehow, though, they were a volatile combination and she didn't really know how to stop them fighting.

As Lily unwillingly followed James out of the carriage, she contemplated their relationship. Over the past six years he had tried everything possible to get her to go out with him and he just _didn't get it_. She hated guys who were arrogant and who thought they were better than everyone else. James Potter got everything he wanted; magic, Quidditch, friends, he didn't have to work for any of it. Lily hated people like that. She had had to work so hard to even catch up to the other purebloods in her class and if it was within her power she wanted to stop James getting one more thing, a thing that he would be interested in for a few days, maybe weeks before he threw it, before he threw _her _away.

It was worse now because she'd thought he was going to leave her alone. He had been slightly more mature this year, limiting the amount of times he asked her out and she'd hoped that he was finally going to grow up. The fact that he'd asked to get her alone proved that Potter was nothing but a spoilt, selfish prat who was never going to grow up, get a life and leave her alone.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice he'd stopped until he was right in front of her. She walked through the door which he held open for her and entered the empty compartment.

"What do you want?" she snapped rudely, ignoring the expression on his face.

"Evans" he began, then stopped "No _Lily, _I just wanted to say-"

He was cut off by Lily who looked up at him angrily, "I have not given you permission to call me Lily" she yelled "In fact, I would prefer that you didn't call me anything at all. You are a selfish, self-centered asshole who wouldn't be able to be polite to the fucking _Queen_. I hate you, I hate you so much that it makes me _sick. _And I wouldn't go out with you if Voldemort himself was standing in front of me forcing me to. Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone and go back to your stupid friends, and your stupid bimbos and your stupid fucking family."

As Lily finished her tirade she realised that James was looking at her silently with an expression she had never seen before on his face. He had looked at her with lust, with adoration, with frustration, anger, amusement and dislike but never; never had he looked at her with the blank, flat expression that he currently wore. As she glared up at him, she felt her anger begin to dissipate at his lack of reaction and she turned to leave the carriage, feeling uncomfortable for the first time about yelling at Potter.

"Evans" his voice interrupted her departure, sounding as flat and emotionless as his face, "I was going to tell you that I've realised that I should leave you alone and that you won't have to worry about me next year."

Lily thanked Merlin that her back was to him, so he couldn't see the wave of red that washed over her face at his words. She would never have admitted it, but she was feeling rather guilty over the way she had acted. She shook herself as she slipped out of the compartment; Potter leaving her alone? That would never happen.

**Soo...what did you think? Tell me in the reviews please, but I won't make updates dependent on reviews because I don't like it when other people do that. Updates should be fairly frequent because I have no school but I can't promise anything :)**


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